Hippisley-Cox, Fielding and Pringle have conducted a study in
ischaemic heart disease where it is mostly encountered, in general
practice. They have also followed a line of inquiry often neglected in
secondary and tertiary care, that of the psychological component of
patient risk. The method chosen, a case-control study, is always opened to
criticism because of its retrospective nature and case control matching,
and in the hierachy of evidence resides on a lower rung.
I think the paper should have been titled a general practice based
case-control study as a general practice population and the general
population are not the same. I also was surprised that cholesterol,
identified in the introduction as linked perhaps inversely, to both
ischaemic heart disease and depression, is not included in the analysis as
a confounder. Ditto family history and sedentary lifestyle.
Competing interests:
No competing interests
27 November 1998
Mark Nelson
Senior Researcher
Dept of Community Medicine and General Practice, Monash University
Rapid Response:
Depression and Ischaemic Heart Disease
Hippisley-Cox, Fielding and Pringle have conducted a study in
ischaemic heart disease where it is mostly encountered, in general
practice. They have also followed a line of inquiry often neglected in
secondary and tertiary care, that of the psychological component of
patient risk. The method chosen, a case-control study, is always opened to
criticism because of its retrospective nature and case control matching,
and in the hierachy of evidence resides on a lower rung.
I think the paper should have been titled a general practice based
case-control study as a general practice population and the general
population are not the same. I also was surprised that cholesterol,
identified in the introduction as linked perhaps inversely, to both
ischaemic heart disease and depression, is not included in the analysis as
a confounder. Ditto family history and sedentary lifestyle.
Competing interests: No competing interests